More wheel gap in the front?

[miltybilty]

Hello all .... For those with A3 8P Quattro sportbacks S-line .... Is there about a centimeter or so more of wheel gap in the front compared to the back?

I seem to remember, when I had my stock suspension that, it sat a little lower in the rear, does this mean I could lower it a tad up front to equalize it ....

Comment .... Photos if you have em and your stock S-line Quattro still.

Thanks,

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[mechanic69]

Hello all .... For those with A3 8P Quattro sportbacks S-line .... Is there about a centimeter or so more of wheel gap in the front compared to the back?

I seem to remember, when I had my stock suspension that, it sat a little lower in the rear, does this mean I could lower it a tad up front to equalize it ....

Comment .... Photos if you have em and your stock S-line Quattro still.

Thanks,

Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

The s3 sits lower at the back which is crazy, a set of Eibach Pro springs will lower front by 25mm that will sort it out


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[miltybilty]

The s3 sits lower at the back which is crazy, a set of Eibach Pro springs will lower front by 25mm that will sort it out


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Mines an USDM A3 Quattro though ....

Which was even higher .... But also had more wheel gap upfront from what I remember.

I'll probably end up with an S3 setup though. With eibach fronts.

Just not for a bit.

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[Gazwould]

The higher gap is to allow for a turned front wheel under compression .

 

[miltybilty]

The higher gap is to allow for a turned front wheel under compression .

Yes that could make sense ....

Although there are cars like my friends S4 that are actually level front and back ....

And I've been under 25 FTG on this car before when I had coilovers and it didn't ever rub or bend the fender under compression. Wheels are basically flush.

I think it's just an odd design feature ....
My friends Mk7 R is actually less fender gap up front compared to rear .... Stock suspension.

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[ch1z64]

Is it a massive big gap like inches rather than a cpl off mm plus would any Joe other than urself notice it cause if answers to both questions is No why bother about it unless ur taken OCD to new heights

 

[miltybilty]

Is it a massive big gap like inches rather than a cpl off mm plus would any Joe other than urself notice it cause if answers to both questions is No why bother about it unless ur taken OCD to new heights

No I think it's more like a centimeter or so ....

It definitely looks oddly.

Other people besides myself notice that it has more front wheel gap on some of the Canadian and USA A3's

I've attached some photos ....

First photo is a 2010 A3 Quattro S-line ....

Second photo is a 2011 A3 Quattro S-line ....

I think I noticed one that looks significantly better.

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[miltybilty]

Eh?

Audi-sport.net not working or something?

I've got an idea ....

Now I get fangled ideas and sure everybody else may just like to do things how marketing teams and companies say to mod our A3's etc ....

But I like to think outside the box.

USDM A3's have higher suspension compared to euro S-line Quattro's ....
Also they euro one is known to ride worse ....

So I thought I'll drop the front of the car with Mk6 GTI springs .... But now I'm worrying that it'll be to much ....

My car had similar wheel gap to the car in the second picture in the post above ....

Hence why I wanted to lower the front slightly ....

What could I do to achieve this without dropping the front to much.

Maybe run just euro R rear springs?
To match the GTI fronts?

Anyway please comment ....

And don't comment oh you should do this or I don't think that's safe ....

VW/Audi slapped any old springs on these .... My stock spring parts numbers wrre fitted to multiple different cars including Jettas and beetles ....

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[ch1z64]

I am sure the guys will be along shortly to help you out

 

[miltybilty]

I am sure the guys will be along shortly to help you out

Thanks there ....

I hope

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[audimyway]

Yes that could make sense ....

Although there are cars like my friends S4 that are actually level front and back ....

And I've been under 25 FTG on this car before when I had coilovers and it didn't ever rub or bend the fender under compression. Wheels are basically flush.

I think it's just an odd design feature ....
My friends Mk7 R is actually less fender gap up front compared to rear .... Stock suspension.

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There is a lot of factors that go into suspension design. Wheel loads, roll stiffness, ride height, vehicles roll axis, pitch angle, camber, caster etc. Gazwould mentioned earlier "The higher gap is to allow for a turned front wheel under compression ". That is partially true but in my opinion, they most likely rose the ride height in the front in order to change the roll center of the front suspension so you can have an inclination in the vehicle roll axis so the car doesn't over-steer as easy. Sorry if this too technical. You can use coilovers to lower the car and use stiffer springs to get the similar suspension feel under cornering with the good looking gap.

 

[miltybilty]

Okay, soooo in my suspension adventures ..........

I found out the following.

Regarding USDM and Canadian A3 8P 2.0T Quattro facelifts (we only got sportback and with the Quattro we only got 2.0T from 2010 til 2013).

Basically a lot of these cars have excessive front wheel gap from factory. Someone measured 0.75" more up front than back.

Our North America cars also have springs that are different and softer and higher compared to euro versions of these cars.

So basically I always hated the odd look the bigger front wheel gap created, and that's why I lowered my car in the first place .... Although lower and less wheel gap is nice .... I do like stock ride .... And I am pretty sure NA cars have a way softer ride than euro A3's of this spec.

Soooo I lowered.

Wasn't happy .... Again and again and again .... Finally I thought up an idea .... Euro S3 8P's have springs from eibach made for just lowering the front to equal it out .... Well I thought, if I could find a spring to do this from cross platform than I could run my OEM rear springs and run an OEM front that was just lower but same rate.

Than I'd have stock ride right?? Well no but I'll explain that later.

Basically I found that USDM golf R front springs were basically the same spring rate if not slightly softer than the OEM springs on the front of my car. They were also lower about 0.70" roughly. Happy me .... This was after much trial and error .... Also bought some GTI springs which definitely would have been lower and worse ....

So I installed my OEM rear springs again .... And installed the USDM golf R front springs .... BINGO!!!!!!

CAR IS LEVEL FRONT TO BACK!!!!
HAPPY ME!!!!
Unfortunately the ride wasn't good because I ran the wrong dampers .... damnit

Butttttt .... Moral of my story is .... If you own one of these cars, then do a little cross platform looking when wanting to change something.

Especially if you own a North America one of these cars with excessive front wheel gap!!!!

Now I'm back on lowering springs haha .... Because I like it a little lower .... But rides like stock because I put the stock dampers back on, which are quality and absorb bumps way better than my last dampers did.

So if you don't wanna change much .... Just change the fronts for some looks

*this very likely doesn't apply to euro cars.

*Some rare cars I've spotted are equal front to back cuz they have higher rear springs from factory .... Very very rare.

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